By Josh Hughes
When I first checked out INVICTVS’ music, the first thirty seconds had me thinking I was in for an EP of jammy, guitar-based psych rock. But then Jonah Falk’s raspy drawl came in, and it still took a few seconds to register that I was listening to a rap group. In 2017, nearly all pejorative connotations of “rap-rock” have gone away, largely because of the rampant genre-meshing that’s occurred over the last decade, so I feel entirely comfortable calling these guys a rap-rock group as a complimentary descriptor, because that’s exactly what they are.
Based out of both Seattle and Bellingham, INVICTVS consists of rapper Jonah Falk, bassist and guitarist Shaun Quick and drummer Dallas Quick. They market themselves as a live hip-hop group, which holds pretty true throughout their recently released four track EP “Eudaemonia,” an album that maintains a consistent vibe throughout. While their musical arrangements lend themselves well to the structure of rock songs, Falk committedly (and successfully) raps and yells over the druggy, dark beats.
Looking for musical lineage in their work, it’s not hard to draw immediate comparisons to Rage Against the Machine for Falk’s shell-shocked rapping and the prominent rock guitar in the background. Yet, where Rage represented a more intense, rough-around-the-edges, politically charged group, INVICTVS combines lighter backbeats with more introspective lyrics to create a rather different atmosphere. Just look to Twenty One Pilots, or, on the very other end of the spectrum, Death Grips, to understand the mainstream acceptance of rock and rap intermingling happily with each other. While INVICTVS doesn’t really sound much like any of these bands, it’s a helpful access point for getting into their work.
Lyrically, Falk gets pretty meta in his language about appreciating the craft and depth of his artistry. He pulls on tried and true motifs from rap music, like people around him not working as hard/being as talented as him, but his wordplay usually comes off as fresh and exciting. Lines like “it’s like you don’t know what your word’s worth / half an inning then you change your shirt / wearing different hats and all you do is bat” come off well for their originality in the face of an overused theme in rap music. Elsewhere, one-offs like “but I live for my pocket calendar” add a much needed nuance to INVICTVS’ meaty rock instrumentals.
There’s an additional importance to the band self identifying themselves as a “live hip hop group” and not exclusively a rap-rock band. Look at artists like The Roots or Chance the Rapper, who both incorporate live elements into their distinctly rap-flavored music, and compare them to Limp Bizkit — there’s really not a comparison to be made at all. While INVICTVS comes off as more of a hybrid between styles, their ultimate intention as a group is to create music that they enjoy that encompasses whatever on earth they want to, and it works to their favor. They truly seem to exist outside prominent musical spheres but still sound entirely relevant in 2017.
INVICTVS will be performing at the UGCH this coming Wednesday, March 1, with an as of yet unnamed opener. The show starts at 7 p.m., and INVICTVS will start at 8 p.m. and perform for an hour. If you like rock, if you like rap, if you like live rock and live rap, this could indeed be the Wednesday Night Concert for you.
Featured photo by Ricky Rath // AS Review
